When I got married, I had a sign-in book for all the guests that attended my reception. Although I'm glad I had it, I wish my book had been more personal. It would have been nice if my guests had not only signed their names, but also written a little note. (One of those things that you don't think of in the wedding planning rush.) I would have liked to have photos from our courtship and engagement included so that the guests could get to know us as a couple too.
I didn't want anyone else to have guest book regrets, so I started the tradition of making a guest album for the wedding of my siblings when my brother Nate got married about 5 years ago. Since then, I've made 3 such albums and each one has gotten better.
Here is my latest guest album created for my brother, Dane, who is getting married to a wonderful woman, Lani, in September. I'm thrilled for them!
Designer: Bethany Kartchner; Featured Collection: Lost & Found
The backbone of the album is a Creative Memories 7x7 inch album. I'm not sure if these are still available. I found mine on Ebay a few years ago. The reason why I chose this particular album is because...
1. It is all white.
2. I like how I can add and subtract pages depending on the reception size.
3. I like how I can easily slip on page protectors once the festivities have ended.
That being said, any album will work for this particular project.
Lani's wedding colors are fall-ish: browns, burgundies, greens, eggplant, orange, etc. Therefore, I chose a brown/burgundy/white/cream color scheme. When I saw that My Mind's Eye Lost & Found line contained these very colors, I was thrilled beyond belief. They made my job so stinking easy that I almost feel like I cheated. Seriously. I didn't use any of the papers from the line because I wanted a very simple classic look, but I used their embellishments like crazy pants.
What you'll need to complete a project like this one - because I know that you are all totally inspired to make wedding guest albums for all your lovies...giggle...
1. A 7x7 album. (You can really use any size, but this is what I chose so my materials list is based on the 7x7 size. If you choose a bigger or smaller size, adjust as necessary.)
2. As many picture as you desire. I like to use either black and white or sepia pictures simply because they are more uniform and classic. I usually ask the bride and groom to supply the pictures from their courtship. For this album, I printed out 10 5x7 pictures that I cropped down to 5x5.
3. Two colors of cardstock. I used a burgundy and a deep brown. I cut the burgundy pieces to 5.5x5.5 inches. The brown were cut to 6x6 inches. (I find that the most pleasing mats are about 1/2 inch bigger than the picture or the mat layered on top of it)
4. Some type of adhesive. I used tacky glue to adhere the cover embellishments and mounting squares by Scrapbook Adhesives (a 3L product) for the inside pages.
5. Little quotes printed on clear paper, embellishments, ribbons, whatever you want to use to decorate your album.
6. If you'd like to ink the edges of your mats/pictures/embellishments, use Distress ink and craft foam.
Directions:
1. Assemble all your materials.
2. Crop your pictures to 5x5. Crop your first mat to 5.5x5.5. Crop your second mat to 6x6.
3. Layer your picture, first mat and second mat and adhere together.
4. Print out your quotes or find some that are pre-printed.
5. Decide on the number of pages you desire in your album. Keep in mind that you want to leave a few blank so guests have space to write notes to the bride and groom.
6. Adhere your pictures, embellishments, etc to the inside pages. Save a cool picture for the last page. Maybe a picture of the wedding location? A picture of their hands? etc.
7. Decorate the outside with ribbons and one or two embellishments.
Each of the MME quotes (like the photo above) were beautiful on their own, but they seemed to get lost when they weren't matted. I added the ribbon as a little extra touch and I love how it turned out.
